I have two current lines of scholarly work:
• gender in education, with a specific focus on gender identities and teaching/caring roles in early childhood;
• socio-emotional aspects of children's lives in school with an emphasis on their social relationships
I would be interested in receiving proposals on: the development of identity through the school years, parenting (especially with a focus on gender), the home-school relationship, gender issues in education (particularly those concerned with issues about male staff in early years education), early childhood
I draw on theories of masculinities and queer theory to analyze how gender is implicated in early childhood educational policy and practice, building on my earlier research on fathering. I have now built an internationally recognized body of research about men’s participation as teachers in early childhood education and care. Through various research publications I have argued for and evidenced the concept of a gender flexible pedagogy: gender-sensitive teachers delivering a gender-sensitive curriculum.
I also have a longstanding research trajectory in the social and emotional development of children and young people in school. For example I undertook a unique qualitative longitudinal study with a group of school pupils from the ages of three to seventeen to track their construction of identity. More recently I have evaluated school provision of nurture groups for children with socio-emotional difficulties and school use of ‘Restorative Practice’, derived from Restorative Justice.
Membership of professional organisations
- British Educational Research Association
- British Psychological Society
- Gender and Education Association